"You can never rebound enough and if he can give us that kind of effort, we're going to be a tough out (in the state tournament). We've been talking about for three years pursuing every rebound and tonight, he pursued every rebound in the game and that bodes well for us."

It always kind of felt like Mbongo had a performance like this in him.

Even when he admittedly didn't play hard in his earlier years, he showed flashes of what he was capable of.

Then, against Rossville, he became just the second player in Wood's 25 seasons as Red Devils coach to have a 20-point, 20-rebound performance.

Ironically, the other one was by his older brother William Mbongo, also against Rossville. That came in an overtime win in 2014 that was aided by William Mbongo's 32 points and 20 boards.

West Lafayette didn't shoot well, but played solid defense and weathered a Rossville run to start there second half where the Hornets cut WL's lead to one on two occasions. The Red Devils responded with a 13-2 run.

Mbongo was so dominant, though, he had a double-double by halftime, scoring 15 to go with 11 rebounds in the first two quarters.

It was amazing to watch, but for those who see Mbongo every day, they know what he can do.

"I have a couple inches on him but when he jumps and he gets his arms out, there's just nothing you can do," said 6-foot-8 junior Will Lasater, who is three inches taller than Mbongo. "His combination of quickness, jumping ability and strength just makes it impossible to get boards over him."

While others shouldered the load offensive in the second half, Mbongo was the offense in the first half. Despite going 1 of 4 from the free throw line in the first half, he still had 15 points to Rossville's 20.

He continued cleaning up misses in the second half. Rossville finished with 28 rebounds, six of which were team or deadball rebounds. Bongo's 21 nearly equaled the total of 10 Hornets who played.

"Most nights I could do that to a certain point, but I felt like they weren't boxing me out and I had to go to the rim. I didn't realize I had 21 rebounds," Mbongo said.

"I'd say I played with a different tenacity, but I felt that usually I really have two people boxing me out or telling their teammates to box me out. I felt like no one was going to get it from me, so I just had to go."

Mbongo provided the boost this team has been waiting on all season at just the right time.

"After the game, we were talking about how this was the most fun we've had all year," Lasater said. "It all starts with him. He is the leader of our team. When he plays like this, there's nothing that can stop us."

Sam King covers high school sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter/Instagram @samueltking.